Nail sorting machine



Sept. 5, 1931. B. P. COOPER V NAIL SORT ING MACHINE Filed Aug. 18, 1926 Patented Sept. 15, 1931 UNITE STA-rs ATENT OFFECE BASIL POMEROY COOPER, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF IATERSON, NEW JERSEY; A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY NAIL son'rrne MACHINE Application filed August 18, 1926, Serial No. 129,989, and in Great Britain September 23, 1925.

This invention relates to machines for sorting articles and is illustrated as embodied in a nail sorting machine.

It is usual to'screen nails during their manufacture for the purpose of eliminating those which have heads of a diameter outside of the limits of tolerance permissible for the nails in question. This is usually done by tumbling the nails successively in two perfo- 9 rated drums, the first of which has perforations (usually slots) small enough to prevent the passage through the perforations of nails having heads of a greater diameter than the minimum permissible and the second of which has perforations (usually round) large enough to permit the passage of all nails the heads of which are not larger than the maximum limit. The nails which pass through A the perforations in the first drum and those which do not pass through the perforations in the second drum are rejected.

This screening is slow and tedious for there is no assurance that a nail which passes through a drum from end to end and is dis- 1:5 charged from the drum without passing through a perforation has been tested by the drum, and it is therefore necessary to repeat the screening process a number of times in order to prevent the acceptance of an undue 39 number of nails with undersized heads when screening to sort out the nails having undersized heads and to prevent the rejection of nails having heads of the correct size when screening to separate the nails with oversized 1 heads. 7

It is an object of the present invention to secure a more effective and speedy sorting of such articles. lVith this object in view the illustrated machine is provided with means 503 so that there is a progressively greaterand for automatically removing from the mass.

greater probability of each individual nail which remains in the screen being tested. The illustrated machine comprises a screen consisting'of a sheet metal drum circular in cross-section and provided with perforations which pick up such of the nails as enter the perforations but have heads of a .greater diameter than the width of the perforations.

These nails are carried upwardly on the ascending side of the drum and ultimately drop into a trough located within the drum by which they are discharged from the drum. As the nails having heads of a diameter less than the width of the perforations when they enter the perforations pass out therethrough, it follows that such of the nails as pass out at the lower end of the drum are merely those which have not been tested and which can be added to other untested nails for a subsequent sorting. Thus the sorting is accomplished with the assurance of a high degree of precision and at a much greater speed than has heretofore beenpossible. In the illus trated machine means are provided for re tardingthe flow of fastenings through the screen so that each nail will have a reasonable opportunity of being tested before being delivered fromth'e lower end of the screen. The retarding means may consist of a baffle. Means are also provided for vibrating the trough to insure rapid delivery, and thereby to prevent an accumulation in the trough of those nails which have been tested and de-, posited in the trough.

With the above and other objects and features in view the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying lifted from the supports in order that different screens may be readily interchanged in the same machine. The front or delivery end of the drum is provided with a bearing ring 14 which is supported by anti-friction rollers 16 carried by the front support. The rear end of the drum may be similarly supported, as shown in Fig. 2, the arrangement being such that the axis of the drum is inclined at a small angle (for example about 6) to the horizontal, being lower at its front than at its rear. The drum is continuously rotated by means of a pinion 18 (Fig. 1), carried on the framework of the machine and driven by any convenient means, which meshes with a gear 20 attached to the rear end of the drum 12. The periphery of the drum is provided with outwardly facing openings or perforations illustrated as slots 22 formed in the cylindrical surface of the drum and of a definite width appropriate to the head of the nail which in the particular case is being used as a standard, and is also provided near its front or lower end with openings 24 for the delivery of nails that may remain in the drum up to that location, a ring 26 being fixed inside the drum to act as an end-stop and to ensure that nothing passes out of the end of the drum, as shown in Fig. 1.

The front end of the drum has fixed to it a gear 28 which meshes with and drives a pinion 30 (Fig. 1) mounted 011 a short shaft 32 that is carried by an adjustable bracket 34.

Inside the drum 12 and extending longitudinally thereof from the front end for about two thirds of its length is a trough 38 secured along the upper surface of a rod 40 which is at an angle (for example about ll /f) to the horizontal, that is, at a greater angle to the horizontal than is the axis of the drum. The rod 40 is pivoted at its rear end to-and slidable upon a spindle 42, its position being fixed thereon by collars 44 slidable upon and adjustably secured to the spindle, for example by set screws 46.

The lateral margin 48 of the trough 88 adjacent to the rip-going side of the drum is a above the drum axis at its rear end while at the front end of the trough inside the drum this margin 48 lies below the drum axis. This trough isarranged to catch nails which, having entered perforations in the drum but failed to pass out through them, are carried up by the drum past the margin 48 of the trough and, so toa position above the trough where they fall back out of the perforations as the drum continues to lift them and are caught by the trough, passing down along the trough and out of the machine. Thus these nails constitute a sorted product composed exclusively of nails which havebeen submitted to the test of the drum perforations and have failed to pass through them.

The lower end of the rod 40 has a downturned lug 50 which is slidable up and down between guides 52 (Fig. 2) carried by a bracket and which is held down by a spring 56 connected to it and to bracket 54. The lug 50 carries a roll 58 engaging a cam 60 carried by shaft 32 so that as the drum 12 is rotated the lower end of the trough 38 is raised and lowered, the shape of the cam being such as to vibrate. the trough rapidly. An adjustable stop 62 is arranged to limit the lower position of the lug 5O id therefore the amplitude of the vibration produced by cam 60.

The distance between the up-going side of the drum 12 and the adjacent lateral edge 48 of the trough 38 is adjusted according to the nails being sorted by moving the upper end of the rod 40 along the spindle 42, or by adjusting the br: clret 54 on its support, or both: It is often suiiiciem in practice to adjust only the rear end of the trough 38, that is, the higher end. since that part of the edge of the trough which is below the axis of the drum 12 requires as a rule little change of position when sorting different nails. The adjusted distance will vary according to the nails. to be. sorted and to the height above the adjacent drum bottom of each portion of the trough margin. Assume for the momentthat long-shanked nails being sorted. At the front end of the drum 12 where trough margin 48 is well below the axis of the drum merely the head of a nail carried up in a perforation of the drum will have to clear the edge of the trough since the nail will not have started to slide back out of the perforation, but at the rear end of the drum where the trough is well above the axis of the drum it may happen that when a nail reaches the level of the edge 48 of the trough 38 it has already been partially retracted by gravity sothat the margin of the trough should at that point be inst far enou h from the side of the drum so that such a nail does not strike its under side. The position of the edge of the trough will de d not only upon the kind of nails being sorted but also on the speed of the druinfso that the exact position should be determined by trial.

The angle of the trough to the horizontal must be suflicient, together with its vibration, to cause the nails to travel down slowly toward its lower end, and that angle will vary according to thelength of the shanks and shape of the heads. The angle may be 1dr/u K justed by varying the vertical position of the spindle-42.

V The angle of the drum 38 to the horizontal. should be such that together with the speed of rotation of the drum it will cause the mass of nails to slide down the drum at the ma imuin speedv consistent with giving each nail a reasonable chance of entering a perforation 22. This angle should not be small enough to bring the rear end of the trough 38 (by reason'of the inclination between the trough and the drum axis) so high in the drum as to fail to receive the sorted nails. If such is liable to be the case thedruin may be'given a greater angle than is otherwise desirable and. battle rings-6e may be intro duced to retard the progress of the mass of nails forwardly. The radialdimension of the baffle rings 6% should be suitable to the )articu-lar nails being sorted since it is und-e sirable that there should be too great an accumulation of nails at any ring. If, however, it is desired to make them suitable for several kinds or sizes of nails (and thus too high for particular nails) they may have a gap or gaps in them, as indicated at 66, and the gaps in adjacent rings may be in staggered relation. The trough margin may be notched inwardly, as shown at 68 (Fig. 2), to receive the rings and thus allow the margin of the trough to be a less distance from the drum than the radial dimension of a ring.

In sorting nails it is desirable that the greater part of the dirt and scrap which is ordinarily present should be first sorted out of the mass of nails in order to give the nails a better chance of entering the perforations of the screen, and accordingly the drum 12 is illustrated as longer than the trough 38. For a given diameter of the drum, however, the trough 3S inside the drum is made as long, taking into account the angle between it and the drum, as it can be made to be effective and the drum is extended rearwardly beyond that distance.

In operation a mass of nails to be sorted is poured in bulk into the rear (top) end of the drum 12. As the mass tumbles down the drum, due to the rotation of the drum and to its slope, most of the dirt and scrap material and some of the imperfect nails fall out of the drum through the perforations 22 at and near the rear end of the drum and may be caught in a suitable waste receptacle. As the mass descends through the drum nails with undersize heads (and further dirt and scrap if any) continue to fall out through the more forward perforations 22 into the trough 38. The nails the shanks of which enter the perforations but do not pass through (as their heads are of full size and are of greater diameter than the width of perforations 22) are carried up in the perfortions of the rotating drum and are automatically removed, falling out of the perforations on to the trough38; while the nails which have not in fact entered and been tested by the perforations 22 pass out through the openings 24 and may be caught in a receptacle separate from that which receives the small-headed nails and scrap material. The

nails caught by the trough 38 are discharged from the front end thereof and may be caught in a third receptacle.

I Thus the mass is sorted into three parts, (a) waste, (6) sorted nails all duly tested and approved by the device, and (0) nails which have not been tested by entering the perforations 22. Owing to the automatic withdrawal of the sorted nails from the mass the latter as it descends through the drum becomes of less and less bulk so that the opportunity for any unsorted nail to enter a perforation 22becomes greater and greater as the nail descends with the result that an unusually high speed of sorting is obtained.

Similarly, nails having over-size heads can be sorted out by a second screening through another drum, the perforations of which are of a width to pass nails having heads of standard size.

Having described the invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for sorting headed fastenings having, in combination, an inclined rotary screen provided with openings arranged to permit the passage of fastenings the heads of which are below a definite size, means for rotating the screen, means for retarding the flow of fastenings through the screen, and a trough inside the screen arranged to receive from the upper part of the screen andto conduct from the screen those fastenings the shanks of which have entered the openings in the screen but the heads of which are incapable of passing through said openings.

2. A fastening-sorting machine comprising a screen circular in cross-section and provided with openings of a definite size, means for rotating said screen, a trough located within the screen and arranged to receive from the screen fastenings the shanks of which have entered the openings in the screen but which because of the sizes of their heads are incapable of passing through said openings, and means for vibrating said trough.

' 3. A fastening-sorting machine comprising a screen circular in cross-section and prd- Vided with openings of a definite size, means for rotating said screen about an axis having a small inclination to the horizontal, a trough located within the screen having one of its edges adjacent to the upwardly moving wall of the screen and thereby arranged to receive from the screen fastenings the shanks of which have entered the openings in the screen but which because of the sizes of their heads are incapable of passingthrough said openings, means for vibrating said trough,

and means for varying the amplitude of the vibration of the trough.

4. A machine for sorting headed fastenings comprising a rotary screen having-outwardly facing openings of a definite size, means for rotating the screen, a trough with in the screen arranged to receive from the screen fastenings the shanks of which have entered openings in the screen but-Which by reason of; the sizes oftheir heads are incapable of' passing through said openings, and a cam arranged to vibrate said trough.

5. A machine for sorting headed fastenings comprising ascreen circular in crosssection and provided with outwardly facing openings of definite size, means forrotating the screen about its longitudinal axis, and a trough located Within the screen having one of its edges adjacent to a Wall? of the screen to receive from the screen fastenings which have been picked up by' the openings in the screen but Which have heads too large to pass through said openings, said trough being mounted for adjustment relatively to the screen to vary the distance from said edge of the trough to the screen. i

6. A machine for sorting headed fastenings comprising a screen circular in crosssection and provided With outwardly facing openings of definite size, means for rotating the screen about an axis having a small inclination to the horizontal, and a trough located' Within the screen having one of its edges adjacent to the upwardly moving Wall of the screen to receive from the screen fastenings which have been picked up by the openings in the screen bLliJ'WlllCll have head s too large topass through said openings, said trough being mounted for adjustment relatively tothe screen to-vary the distance from said edge of the trough to the screen.

7. A machine for sorting headed fastenings having, in combination, a screen comprising a cylindrical shell all points on' the surface of Which are equidistant from its axis, said shell being provided. with openings permitting the passage'of fastenings the heads of which are of a' diameter less than the'width of the openings and operating to catch by their heads tastenings Whose shanks enter the openings but whose heads are too large to pass through the openings, means for rotating the screen about an axis having a largehorizontal component, a baflle inside the screen arranged to retard the passage of fastenings through the screen, and a trough inside the screen arranged to catch and conduct from the screen those fastenings dropped from the upper portion of the screen Whose shanks have entered the openings in the screen but Which have been unable to pass through the openings on account of the size of their heads, the trough being notched adjacent to its edges to receive the bafile;

8. A machine for sorting headed fasten-- ings having, in combination, a rotary screen provided with openings to permit the passage of fastenings the diameters of the heads of which are less than the Width of the openings and to catch by their heads fastenings Whose shanks enter the openings but Whose heads-are of diameters greater'than the Width of the openings, means for rotating the screen, a baflle' arranged to retard the passage of fastenings through the screen, and

BASIL POMEROY COOPER. 

